Pence: Trump considering moving US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem

Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday that President Donald Trump is seriously considering moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — something he pledged to do as a candidate that would nonetheless prove controversial.

Pence, speaking at a White House ceremony in honor of Israel Independence Day, described Trump as “giving serious consideration” to moving the embassy “as we speak,” according to a pool report, and did not elaborate further on the president’s stance.

Previous presidents like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush had said they would move the embassy to Jerusalem while campaigning but didn’t follow through on the pledge. Some experts have warned that relocating the embassy could inflame tensions in the Middle East and doom the peace negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

“It would essentially validate the view that all of Jerusalem now belongs to Israel,” Aaron David Miller, a former Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiator, told POLITICO late last year.

“It’s hard to come up with a single act that would make the Middle East burn more than it is burning right now,” he added.

Trump’s son-in-law, his senior adviser Jared Kushner, has been tasked with leading White House efforts on Middle East peace.